Just at the closing of the river crop, and before 
that of the central counties arrived, grapes be¬ 
came very scarce, and prices ranged up to those 
of the beginning of the season. This advance 
was unfortunate for those central counties, for 
the news was sent to all the grape growing dis¬ 
tricts extending to Ohio, and the result was that 
we received an immense quantity, aud there was 
a grand break-down in prices. Those growers 
who succeeded in getting In their Isabellas be¬ 
fore the break-down were very fortunate, some j 
of them realizing from 17 to 18 cts. per pound 
for their crops. 
The first fruit received from Ilamtnondsport 
was some very choice Delawares and Catawbas, 
on Oct. 10th, from Wellabd Bowes?, packed 
in their superior five-pound boxes. They ar¬ 
rived in beautiful order, and sold readily at 25 
cts. per pound, and were quite an ornament in 
the window of the Broadway dealer who pur- j 
chased them. Some Isabellas of the same brand | 
sold at 18 cts. For a few days the trade was 1 
lively, aud they continued to sell at good prices; i 
then the reverse shock came, and down they fell, { 
and grapes were a dru 
FRUIT.— TO GROW A SUPPLY QUICKLY 
VARIOUS ORIGINAL RECIPES, Ac. 
| To Make Good Apple Jelly.—T ake apples 
j of the best quality and flavor (not sweet,) cut 
them into quarter slices and steam them till 
j soft; then strain out the juice, being careful uot 
to let any of the pulp go through the strainer; 
I boil it to the consistency of molasses, then 
| weigh, and add as many pounds of crushed 
I 8U g ar > stirring it constantly until the sugar is 
The pioneer who pushes into the forest and 
makes a “clearing” jnst on the borders of civil¬ 
ization, or spots for the first time, the wide prairie 
with improvements, should not delay planting 
an abnndanee of the small fruits. To obtain a 
foil supply of fruit for family use as soon as pos- 
sihe is a very desirable object; therefore the 
strawberry, currant, raspberry and blackber¬ 
ry should be set before the apple, pear or peach. 
Twenty-five or fifty years ago, when the culture 
of the small fruits and their preservation in a 
comparatively fresh state during the whole year 
was but imperfectly understood, the settlers 
were compelled to wait the slow growth of trees 
before they could eat abundantly of fruit; aud at 
this day (so hard is it to get out of the ruts,) one 
of the greatest deprivations anticipated by the 
pioneer, is that of the “fruits of the old home¬ 
stead.” He may now be compelled to forego the 
tree fruits for a few years, but by judiciously se¬ 
lecting, and some care in cultivating, an abun¬ 
dance of small fruits, which will very well supply 
the place of all others, may be had on his table 
each day in the year after a single season’s growth. 
These remarks will also apply to most locali¬ 
ties where the tree fruits arc not sufficiently 
hardy or fail from other causes,—the small fruits 
will thrive and supply their place. If necessary, 
protection can easily be given to the latter by 
hedges, embankments, or some covering. In all 
sections where the apple fails small fruits should 
be grown in abundance for home use. 
How shall it be done? Simply enough! Plant 
strawberries, currants, raspberries and blackber¬ 
ries ; these will give fresh fruit for three months 
in the year, and drying and canning them will 
provide for the remainder. There need be no 
failure in any locality if you will only give to the 
work the thought and labor which its impor¬ 
tance demands. 
dissolved; add one ounce of extract of lemon to 
every twenty pounds of jelly, and when cold set 
it away In close jars. It will keep for years. 
Those who have not made it this way will do 
well to try it. They will find it superior to cur¬ 
rant jelly. 
To Phesekve Fruit Jellies from Mould. 
—Cover the surface one-fourth of an inch deep 
with fine pulverized sugar. When thus pro¬ 
tected they will hist for years free from mould. 
To Prevent Graining in Jams, Preserves, 
Etc.— A teaspoontul of cream tartar to every 
gallon of the fruit. 
Lemon Cream. —'Take a pint of thick cream, 
and add to it the yolk of two eggs well beaten, 
four ounces of fine sugar, and the thin rind of a 
lemon; boil it up; then stir until almost cold; 
put the juice ol the lemon in a dish, and pour 
the cream on It, stirring it till quite cold. 
Fruit Creams. — Put six ounces of isinglass 
in a little water; then one pint of good cream, 
sweetened to the taste, and boil it; when nearly 
ig in the market; none 
selling, none wanting,—every dealer full, and all 
sick of the trade,—wishing they had never 6ccn 
a grape. Soon the letters came in thick and fast. 
Why don’t yon sell my grapes ? Did you receive 
my grapes ? What is the matter with the grape 
market ? &e. The dealers finally dreaded to see 
the postmau when he made his deliveries, the 
complaints being so munerons. After a few days 
people began to eat grnpcs’again, The former 
high prices had prevented the mass of persona 
from buying them, and now the prices having 
settled down to about 8 to 10 cts. for a fair arti¬ 
cle of Isabellas, grapes were to be seen at every 
street corner and on every fruit dealer’s stand, 
and after a long and tedious seige the great, bulk 
of stock was worked olf. Much of It in a dam¬ 
aged condition was sold for wino at ti cts. per 
pound, and when this poor stock was sold good 
fruit wa« in demand again, and good Isabellas 
sold readily at 14 to 15 cts., while Catawbas 
brought from 18 to 20 cts. per pound. 
The Harnmondsport grapes were not as line as 
last year, the early frost having caused the leaves 
to fall, which prevented the fruit from ripening 
as thoroughly as it usually does in that valley, 
yeti think their sales will average higher than 
any other grape growing district in the State. 
Many of their Catawbas sold from 18 to 20 cts., 
and their Isabellas averaged 14 cts. The Bloom¬ 
field and Naples grapes went down to a very low 
figure. Ohio sent ns large quantities ol Cataw- 
baa which were in good order, and, as a general 
thing, sweeter than the State grapes, but owing 
to their style of packages were sold from 10 to 
15 cts. per pound. One chief cause of the stag¬ 
nation of the trade in our market was, that all of 
the other largo cities which usually procure their 
supplies from us, were supplied direct from the 
country, and grapes were cheaper there than In 
New York. 
The great difficulty with grapes tills season 
has been that they were almost all damaged by 
the frost; this not only prevented them from 
ripening thoroughly, but the action of the frost 
on the stems caused them to mould, and the 
grapes to drop from the stem. This was very 
unfortunate for the crop; the grapes uot being 
fully ripe were very sour, so much so that many 
persons would not pqrchace the Isabella’s at all, 
but fell back on the Catawbas, and by so doing 
did not better themselves much, for they were 
more sour tiian I have ever before known them. 
Still, they must have grapes, and they were the 
best that we could get. The Harnmondsport 
Catawbas proved to be the best article in market. 
New York City, Dec., 1860. Now and Then. 
NATIVE FRUITS OF NEBRASKA 
The Far West produces many indigenous 
fruits, some of which will, doubtless, prove val¬ 
uable. * R. O. Thompson, Nebraska, describes 
several new varieties in the Agricultural Report, 
and we. make some extracts from his article. 
“Over twenty-five varieties of the plum are 
found In this Territory. In early spring the eye 
can wander over hundreds of acres of these 
plums, one sheen of white flowers covering the 
landscape, and the air is laden with sweet fra¬ 
grance, The fruit is of all forms and colors 
which the prune family assumes; here the num¬ 
bers of the curculio may he truly called legion. 
Something over four years ago my attention was 
directed to a thrifty group of theso trees by find¬ 
ing the branches literally loaded with very large 
fruit, while all others were pretty effectively 
thinned out by the curculio. The fruit of these 
same trees has each year, since that time, with¬ 
stood the nttackB of that insect, and the bearing 
has been equal to matiy of the cultivated varie¬ 
ties. The skin is tough, not very thick, and 
may he pared like an apple; the flesh is firm, 
unless very ripe, then melting and juicy. 
There are three varieties of the gooseberry in¬ 
digenous to Nebraska; one—named the Nebras¬ 
ka Prolific—is very promising. It stands two to 
four feet high, fruit larger than the Houghton, 
veined, of a clear, transparent green, nearly 
round, and possessing a rich, vinous flavor. Sin¬ 
gle specimens have been found nearly an ineb in 
diameter. In the past four years I have exam¬ 
ined thousands of bushes and never found mildew 
upon any of them. 
There is a cherry of the size of a well grown 
May Duke, very sweet, melting, of a rich, deli¬ 
cious flavor, nearly oblong, and of a changeable 
brown purple color. The fruit is set In heavy 
clusters on long steins beneath the leaves, and 
upon a tree never more than one or two feet high. 
At two years from the seed it produces a bountiful 
crop of these luscious cherries. It is very hardy; 
layers as readily as the grape, and will grow 
from cuttings and single eyes. It ripens in 
September. Had they no qualities to recommend 
them other than as ornamental shrubs there 
would be few finer ones; but add to this a most 
rich and luscious cherry and we have a shrub of 
rare excellence and beauty.” 
THE SWEET PEA. 
TWO BEAUTIFUL COMMON FLOWERS. 
gmlicultuvl amt 
BY JAMES VICK. 
Soft Gingerbread. —One cup molasses ; one 
egg; one-half cup of butter; one cup of warm 
water; one spoon of ginger; two cups of floor; 
one teaspoon and a half of soda; do not stir 
until your iugredients are all together. 
Pork Cake. —Take one-half pound of pork, 
let it stand over night In a cup of warm water; 
then chop fine, and turn over it one cup of boil¬ 
ing water; alter which add two and a half cups 
of sugar, one-half cup of molasses, cloves, cin¬ 
namon and nutmeg; stir quite still; bake in a 
moderate over for two hours ; fruit improves It. 
Marble Cake. —One cup brown sugar; one- 
half cup molasses; one cup butter; one-fourth 
cup sour milk; one-half a nutmeg; oue spoon 
cinnamon; one-half spoon alsplcc; one-hairdo, 
cloves ; one fourth do. pepper; one-half tea¬ 
spoon soda; yolks of four eggs. 
The While Recipe. —Two cups of white sugar; 
one cup butter; one-half cup sour milk; whites 
of four eggs; two teaspoons cream tartar; one 
teaspoon soda; two cups of flour, Rake this in 
two tins, after yon mix the two cakes us you 
please, uiul it will give you a beautiful cake, be¬ 
sides being most delicious. Try It. 
Hard Ginger Cake.—O ne quart of molasses; 
oue pint of water; one-half pound of butter or 
lard; two ounces of soda; ginger to the taste.— 
Bell C. B., Grand Mane, Mich. 
“Now and Then.”— The articles which have ap¬ 
peared iu the Rural from time to time over the above 
norn-de-plume, and which have attracted wide and 
favorable attention, are contributed by Mr. (!. W. 
Idhll of New York City. In tbc present number wifi 
be found thefrirst^part of an Interesting and valuable 
paper on “Grapes In the New York Market,” from 
Mr, Ima.i.’s pen, aud we can safely promise our read¬ 
ers “ Now and Then ” communications from the same 
source, of equal value. V; We hod the pleasure of 
meeting Mr. Idkll at the Harnmondsport Fair last 
fall, (some months alter he became a contributor to 
tho Bubal,) and found the estimate wc formed of 
him in no wise suffered by personal acquaintance. 
We take pleasure in directing attention to Mr. Iukll’b 
business card, aud in cordially commending him to 
our readers. 
Tun greatest blessings enjoyed by us are those 
that arc cheap — almost without money or price. 
Health, pure air aud pure water, how invaluable, 
and yet how freely dispensed to rich and poor 
alike. Many of our common hardy flowers, that 
will prosper with anything like decent care, are 
among the most beautiful flowers wo have, and 
certainly the most valuable, because they are, 
within the reach of all the lovcrB of Nature’s 
llorul beauties. 
It is almost as bard to select one flower and say 
this is the best and sweetest, as it is to select one 
flower out of a family of children for a favorite, 
but 1 have sometimes thought if I could have but 
one it should he the old favorite Sweet /to. I 
must acknowledge, however, that at other times 
I might have been quite ready to select some 
other favorite. The Sweet Peas, however, are 
among tho sweetest and m 06 t beautiful of 
our hardy annuals. They are aa fragrant 
almost as Mignonette, flower early, coutiuue 
in bloom a long time, and nothing ean be better 
for cutting for table bouquets and other orna¬ 
ments. For a garden hedge or screen, or for 
little clumps, supported with corafnou pea sticks, 
or other support, they arc very desirable. In a 
rich soil they will grow four or five feet in height, 
that is If sown early In the spring, so that they 
get a good start before warm weather. If sown 
later they become somewhat dwarfed and never 
reach more than two or three feet. Put the seed 
in as early as possible in the spring and nearly 
four inches deep. Then keep the soil well hoed 
up and furnish support as soon ns the plants 
show the least disposition to climb. Tim en¬ 
graving shows, as well as a wood-cut can do, the 
character of the flowers. 
Protect;T ire Treks.— The orchard demands but 
little care at this season of the year, yet there Is one 
point that, owners of young orchards should not over¬ 
look, and that is tho injury which mice or rabbits may 
effect. A hint in season may be worth a great deal to 
some. There are several methods of protection; gas 
tur may he applied. Some think it injurlooB to young 
trees, but it is uot, unless used in too large quautl. 
ties. Smearing the trees with blood or fresh liver is 
another method; a shield may he formed by cutting 
cornstalks into pieces a foot or two In length and 
tying them around the buse of the trunk with twine. 
Many ways of protection will bo suggested to the 
watchful owner. Go out and examine your young or¬ 
chard, trample down the snow clone to the trees, and 
destroy the harboring places and roads of the vermin. 
THE WALTER GRAPE 
Beef—Cutting uf and Preserving.— In ent* 
liug up beef for salting regard should be had to 
the size of tho pieces, and their relation to each 
other when put down. In other words, a family 
resemblance should bo pursued in the difl'erent 
strata, as placed in the barrel. When designed 
for family nse it will be found convenient to cut 
into pieces suited to a day’s consumption. For 
preserving the meat the N. E. Farmer Bays: 
“ Pack the pieces in casks, giving a slight sprink¬ 
ling of salt between each piece; cover with a 
pickle by boiling together, in four gallons of 
water, eight pounds of salt, three pounds brown 
sugar, three ounces saltpetre, one ounce poarlaah, 
for one hundred pounds of meat. Keep a fiat 
stone on the meat, that it may be immersed in 
the pickle. Put down in this way, beef will keep 
a year, and rather improve by age. 
Tub Quince on tub Thorn,—A correspondent of 
one of onr exchanges describes a specimen of Quince 
grafted on the Thorn as being “ 12 or 15 feet high and 
6 or S inches through the stem, the Quinces being at 
the top and center of the tree, protected from ma¬ 
rauders by their position and the thorny defences of 
their adopted parent. It is said the Thorn is never 
attacked by the borer, that dreaded enemy of the fruit 
grower.” 
Missouri State Horticultural Society.— By a 
circular just received we learti that the eighth Annual 
meeting of this Society will be held at St. Louis on 
the 8th, !)th Kith and 11th of January, 1867. A cor¬ 
dial invitation is extended to Delegates of all local 
Horticultural and Agricultural Associations, and toull 
friends of Horticulture and Pomology, to be present 
and participate in the discussions. 
The Lees of Grapes.— In grape growing regions 
where wine is made, the residue alter pressing, should 
be returned to the soil whence the grapes are taken. 
Although manuring the grape is now generally de¬ 
nounced, it is still a question whether purely mineral 
fertilizers would not prove beneficial. The soil may 
be over-rich In humus, but not iu ash-constituents. 
Coffee —A Substitute. —The Louisville (Ky.) 
Lulustrial Gazette, remarking on the many sub¬ 
stitutes employed by a large portion of the peo¬ 
ple for the real article of Java Coffee, says none 
approach so near it in flavor as the sweet potato. 
Mixed in equal quantities of coffee and potato 
the presence of the latter can hardly be detected. 
Take the small potatoes, wash them clean, cut 
them into pieces about one-fourth of au inch in 
diameter and dry them in an oven. Pat them 
away in a box or can aud when wanted for use, 
brown the pieces and grind them like coffee and 
prepare in the same way. This preparation will 
take the shine out of all other substitutes for 
real coffee. 
Grapes Kkckivkd.— Mr. F. W. Lay, Greece, this 
county, placed on our table two boxes of fine grapes, 
Isabellua and Catawbas, the day before Christinas. 
Mr. L. is a successful cultivator of fruit, and a con¬ 
tributor of valuable articles to the Rural. Of all 
such Horticultural contributions we arc taeUfuUtl 
appreciative. 
Fruit Growers’ Society of Western N. Y.—The 
annual meeting of this Society will be held at the 
City Hull, Rochester, on Wednesday and Thursday, 
the 23d and 24th of January, 1867. As no meeting of 
the Society has taken place since the one of last sum¬ 
mer, great interest will doubtless be manifested, and 
a large attendance secured. 
SCABI08A, OR MOURNING BRIDB. 
Another fine, old-fashioned flower is the Sea- 
biota, often called the Mourning Bride. They 
are singular and beautiful flowers, of every va¬ 
riety of color almost, from white ;o black, excel¬ 
lent for cutting, and making a good display in 
the garden. 
Don’t Use Soda —Nor any of the common 
kinds of Saleratus in making bread, if you value 
health and desire to have bread that is palatable. 
Always uso D. B. De Laud & Co.’s Best Chemical 
Baleratus and you will have a pure article. It 
may be had at the grocers. It is put up full 
weights; others are short weights. 
Flies Investing the Monthly Bosks.—W ill some 
of the readers of the RURAL tell ns how to get rid of 
tho little white flies, which have destroyed the beanty 
of rose bush"* for eome years past, and which have 
now made their i-pnearance on monthly roses in the 
house?—H. H. H. 
The English Cottage Gardener gives an ac¬ 
count of a grape vine on the coast between Tire 
and Sidon. It branches into two stems, one was 
50% inches in circumference, the other 40 inches. 
